Escape from the interior "hold" of a vessel to the weather deck may be impossible during a fire because many of the interconnecting passageways will be filled with irrespirable atmosphere. In the past, breathing apparatus, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,026, have been suggested as a means for making a safe escape through the irrespirable atmosphere. However, because of the physical size of such a breathing apparatus, storage in the "hold" has not met with success since each crewman would need such a safety escape apparatus within easy reach in several locations throughout the ship. In addition, the time required to outfit a single person is longer than most people can stand still in time of an emergency